What type of wine pairs nicely with nearly every food? I’m talking Rib Eye Steak, Sushi, Thanksgiving Turkey, Chocolate, Soup, Pancakes, Fruit, Cheese Plates of any kind… I’ve even drunk it with Cheez-Its, I’m sure. Bubbles. That’s right. I’m a … Continue reading
It’s the end of December. It’s cold. (Ok there is a low of 44 degree today in Santa Monica, but I’m cold) This is the time of year when I crave heavier foods and drinks to pack on a few … Continue reading
Just like all of you who are hosting holidays parties or just want to drink festively, I’ve been on the hunt for fantastic holiday cocktails recently. See the R+D Reindeer. The R+D Reindeer sold out in a few hours. We sold … Continue reading
I promise this does not need a spoiler alert. I am not giving away what Brad and I are sending people for Christmas. Although you may already know part of it. Because I am awful at surprises.
This is no secret. I am really, really terrible at surprises. I like giving people gifts ALL days of the year and for no real reason. When I get something fabulous for someone, I don’t want to wait for a specific day to give it to them. I just want them to have it and be as excited as I am about it.
This makes life around Christmas-time (and birthdays and anniversaries and weddings and any other gift-giving occasion…) super difficult. Especially when you are writing a blog where you like to share your recipes and crafts and fun homemade things.
Brad is bad at surprises, too. This is great for both of us because no one is really disappointed when Christmas Day comes and there is no big gift we just can’t wait to open under the tree. And no one is super disappointed on their birthday when they know exactly what they’re getting.
We even got engaged a week or so before “planned” because Brad simply couldn’t wait until Christmas like he’d originally planned. We had just come back from Ashley & Mike’s rehearsal dinner, we were talking about life and love, we were at my family’s house… And Brad just couldn’t wait for Christmas morning. It was the perfect moment. He proposed at 3AM on December 18, 2009.
It was absolutely perfect. And I was incredibly surprised. So I guess it worked either way.
So my terrible knack for revealing gifts too early is why I think I have found it so difficult to write a blog post this week. I have a lot of things in the works, but they are mostly Christmas presents that I will be mailing all over the USA to people on our list. And although I have hinted that the gifts this year are homemade (we are broke…) and delicious (we are really good cooks), I haven’t given away the ENTIRE surprise.
But here I go – in pictures.
I have to send them out tomorrow so I can have them out of my camera’s reach…
It actually happened that this past weekend started off just about perfect. Brad and I met Suzi for breakfast at Huckleberry, where we ate about a million incredible pastries and hung out with Moo, our friend Kristin’s dog who Suzi watches on Fridays. Moo and Gibson met, and although they definitely weren’t instant friends, Gibson was interested enough to go on a pretty decent walk.
Gibson hates walks. Win #1 of the weekend.
So afterwards, Gibson was tired and Brad and I decided it was time to get our Christmas tree. We walked to two tree lots where we discovered Santa Monica trees are ridiculously expensive, and then drive to two more lots before just giving in and buying one from a lot that Brad says was run by “a bunch of ex-cons.” They were really, really friendly and nice ex-cons, though, and profits from our tree went towards their continued education. So it was worth the $90.
Ugh. $90. Serious. This was the most reasonable price we could find. Other than Home Depot but we were NOT getting our Christmas Tree from Home Depot. Ex-Cons are way more holiday appropriate.
Anyway, got home. Decorated the tree. Christmas has begun!! And we even got to hang our “First Christmas” ornament from Pat & Ed. Our first married Christmas! Win #2 of the weekend!!
Nap time, then off to downtown for the soft opening of “Artisan House”, which is a restaurant that Brad’s friend is the executive chef at and was trying for months to get Brad to be his sous chef. Incredible dinner. Awesome place. Most definitely win #3.
See? Pretty much perfect.
Fast forward to the AM. Like, 2AM. Brad’s pancreatitis starts acting up. Fast forward again to 11AM. He is still doubled over in pain. I am completely freaked out, Brad is really hurting. We have slept about 2 hours all night. We head to the ER.
By about 4PM on Saturday we are home and Brad is on some nice drugs. I am trying to figure out how we can get our new insurance (that goes into effect Wednesday… arrrgh) to cover what is sure to be a crazy hospital bill and Brad is sleeping.
At one point the apartment was totally quiet and I went in to check on him…
Win #4. Brad is home, resting and Gibson is sleeping at his feet, keeping him company. That is true puppy love. My heart melted a little.
And then after all that, the next morning I forced Gibson to get out of the house with me and get a little exercise. We walked all around the neighborhood. Her tail didn’t wag once and it wasn’t the most normal dog-walking experience in the world, but for Gibson it was amazing.
She was especially interested in all the palm branches that were down from the Santa Ana wind storm last week…
Taking Gibs on an actual walk and having her be super tired afterward? Win #5.
Oh, AND that silly “Bark-Off” contraption that I bought to get Gibson to stop barking at everyone who walks by is actually working. Win #6.
Looks like Gibson and I are starting to get each other. Am I on the way to having a normal dog?
So its been a terribly long weekend and I was still so nervous about Brad as he went back to work this morning, but overall I am still a very lucky girl with a lot of wins on my score card. I am so blessed and grateful to have a husband who is on the mend, a crazy but lovable dog, and a health insurance plan that starts this week so we can get Brad in to a doctor and get him looked at without another crazy bill on the way…
As my mom has told me many times before, just keep breathing.
xoxo
THE KEY OF KELS 